Scotts Valley vs Watsonville

A side-by-side comparison of Scotts Valley and Watsonville: population, income, housing, and more.

Scotts Valley and Watsonville are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Watsonville has the higher population (51,968 vs 12,138 in Scotts Valley). Scotts Valley has the higher median household income ($140,887 vs $74,785 in Watsonville). Scotts Valley has the higher median home value ($1,092,000 vs $657,700 in Watsonville).

Population, income & housing

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
Population	12,138	51,968
Median age	47.8 yrs	32.7 yrs
Median household income	$140,887	$74,785
Median home value	$1,092,000	$657,700
Median gross rent	$2,362	$1,784
Housing units	5,440	15,792
Homeownership rate	72.5%	43.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.4%	12.7%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
Population	11,863 → 12,138 (+2.3%)	53,800 → 51,968 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$108,289 → $140,887 (+30.1%)	$55,470 → $74,785 (+34.8%)
Median home value	$815,600 → $1,092,000 (+33.9%)	$464,200 → $657,700 (+41.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,975 → $2,362 (+19.6%)	$1,409 → $1,784 (+26.6%)

Scotts Valley

Population

11,86312,138

Median household income

$108,289$140,887

Median home value

$815,600$1,092,000

Median gross rent

$1,975$2,362

Watsonville

Population

53,80051,968

Median household income

$55,470$74,785

Median home value

$464,200$657,700

Median gross rent

$1,409$1,784

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
Under 5	5.1%	7.1%
5 to 17	11.7%	22.7%
18 to 24	7.8%	10.3%
25 to 34	9.2%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.3%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.3%
55 to 64	18.0%	10.7%
65 to 74	12.9%	7.6%
75 and over	11.4%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
White (non-Hispanic)	74.4%	12.1%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	6.9%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.3%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	13.8%	83.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
No high school diploma	4.7%	34.5%
High school graduate	10.2%	24.7%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	31.7%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	22.7%	4.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
Drove alone	66.7%	70.1%
Carpooled	3.6%	16.7%
Public transit	0.4%	1.4%
Walked	1.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	2.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	24.5%	6.1%
Other means	1.0%	4.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
1-unit, detached	54.7%	54.4%
1-unit, attached	12.4%	8.3%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	9.6%
20 or more units	4.1%	13.7%
Mobile home & other	17.3%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Scotts Valley	Watsonville
Poverty rate	4.8%	15.1%
Average household size	2.37	3.35
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1985	1976